“The evil that men do live after them” – William Shakespeare
With Obasanjo and Babangida as friends you don’t need enemies for Nigeria. These twosome (individualists) are the ghouls and architects of the state of anomie we find ourselves in in Nigeria today. The two, through political selfishness, institutionalized official corruption in all facets of Nigeria. The more they try to rewrite history with embellishments and vindictiveness, the more they get exposed.
At the twilight of these men of yesterday, deep down them is void with unhappiness. Karma is the most unbiased teacher in their existence. Karma recompenses them with their misdeeds! June 12 should have been a milestone in the history of Nigeria but Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida truncated the collective voice of the Nigerian people. There’s no doubt that the ghost of June 12 shall continue to hunt those who annulled the wishes of the people of Nigeria.
In retrospect, the annulment of June 12 presidential election was the saddest and loudest day for an expectant nation looking into the promising future. It was a day all Nigerians irrespective of their religious beliefs, tribal and political affiliations came together to speak with one voice to move the nation forward.
Meanwhile, if you really want to know how painful the annulment of June 12 was, I will refer readers of this piece to listen to Orosunukun (thoughtfulness) by the late MC genius Gbenga Adeboye. Gbenga Adeboye’s compendium illustration of how everyone felt after the annulment of the historic election by the military president “dash” is a succinct referral for everyone to listen to, with rapt attention.
The most beneficiary of the annulment of June 12 presidential election is Mr. Tortoise. Mr. Tortoise is a circumstantial man who remains the most luckiest man among his military and political contemporaries dead or alive. But Ijapa is a known individual with a never ending quest for grandstanding, opportunism and mundane. He is a man who is never satisfied with what providence has bestowed on him. Obasanjo had an unexplainable hard feelings for the late Chief MKO Abiola. His vindictiveness of those who shine more than him is beyond comprehension. Obasanjo is a man from Owu with stupendous jealousy (owu) of another man he knows is surging ahead of him. He will look for everything under the sun to castrate and castigate his avowed political enemy. It is a welcome development that Obasanjo is being deconstructed now.
Obasanjo has never supported the agitation for the revalidation of the annulment of June 12. Sometimes, during June 1993, shortly when the nation was still savoring the bitter pills of the annulment of June 12 presidential election, the Late Chief MKO Abiola paid a courtesy visit to Obasanjo to discuss the June 12 crisis. This writer followed the sequence and the events that culminated the agitation and protests over the annulment. Chief MKO Abiola tried all he could to cajole Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to prevail on the evil-genius to revamp the wishes of the people, but all to no avail. Mr. Tortoise had his agenda. He saw the fate of June 12 and used that to collaborate with the “dash” put the country in turmoil. The late business mogul could see the sinister moves and the fraternity of Obasanjo with the evil-genius. He quickly withdrew his expectations and reliance in Obasanjo having seen his cunning behavior and tagged him as “having Obasanjo as a friend, you do not need an enemy.” MKO Abiola saw Obasanjo as a man who would ask you to clap with your one hand; and still attempt to shave your head in your absence.
June 12 was a watershed in the anal history of Nigeria. Late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the election used all he had laboured for in his life to save Nigeria from Nigerians, and from those who have mortgaged the country’s future. He paid the supreme price. MKO Abiola died mysteriously in detention while his beloved wife Alhaja Kudirat Abiola died in the hands of hired assassins of the evil-dark-goggled-shortman-devil of Nigeria. The annulment of the mandate of the people put Nigeria into political and civil chaos. Nigeria was sentenced back to medieval periods, the result of which we are still struggling to waggle out from till today.
Obasanjo’s travail in the hands of the evil-man was a divine warning for Obasanjo to see the handwriting on the wall, but some men are recalcitrant animals with no sense of history. Obasanjo’s escape from the evil-man’s gulag was by providence, but the selfish mien in Obasanjo discountenanced the providential warning and continue to advise him not to listen to the words of wisdom.
During the NTA nationwide phone interview and programme with Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja, the nation capital, I called in from Lagos to specifically warned all Nigerians to beware of Obasanjo’s presidency. I could see that Obasanjo would deceive all Nigerians to disgrace Abiola when he eventually become president of Nigeria. Throughout the administration of Mr. Tortoise, he hardly mention Chief MKO Abiola in public fora. It never crossed the mind of Obasanjo or his administration to recognize the legacy of the man who united the nation that spoke with one resounding voice on June 12, 1993 presidential election.
The cynic-haters and their children of corruption will soon come up through their dark webs to see this rightness by President Buhari as political correctness to assuage the western hemisphere of Nigeria. Unserious people whose intelligence are being warped by their hate for President Muhammadu Buhari will easily forget that the evils that men do live after them.
Humanly, Babangida and Obasanjo are experiencing the shame of June 12 at the moment. Their children of corruption will not die but they will be put to shame when we begin to realize the Nigeria of our dreams. Nigerian greatness has began steadily with the unfettered determination of President Muhammadu Buhari and the incubation of our indefatigable Omoyele Sowore.
Existentially, June 12 has become a spirit, it has refused to die. June 12 will never die. No matter what the likes of Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and their children of corruption attempt or do to kill June 12, it will never die. The ghost of June 12 is now hunting the hunters. The hunted Nigerians are watching with keen interest the remaining twilight years of these men of yesterday. The ghost of June 12 will continue to hover over the people who were directly or indirectly responsible for the truncation of the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria.
